If there was a Pinoy band that I would see anywhere, it would definitely be Parokya Ni Edgar! (I guess with this line, you should already be able to deduce that I am a big fan of theirs. Yeah, I am…)
Although I didn’t feature them on the my very first installment of OPM Thursdays, it was only because I wanted to feature only 1 song that day and for sure I can’t just feature only 1 song from my favorite Pinoy Band. If I had my way, I would choose to feature an entire concert if not an entire album or their entire list of songs but obviously for bandwidth reasons, I can’t do that, right?
I’ve known and loved Parokya ni Edgar since my high school days and since then, it has never waned. If listening to their songs was already rockin’ as it is, seeing and hearing them perform live is even more spectacular! Here is a visual idea of how a concert with Parokya ni Edgar goes – endless yelling and woow-ing from the audience (including me ofcourse), jumping and head-banging to their songs, singing-shouting along with the songs, dancing, sore palms from always clapping, sore feet from always jumping and hoarse if not totally non-existent voice shortly after and ofcourse endless shouting for more!
You have to credit this to vocalist and front man Chito Miranda for his antics and his superb rapport with the audience and their fans and his sense of fun. There is never a dull Parokya ni Edgar concert, you can count on that! (At least none that I have seen or heard about, that is!) I think the very reason people love them so much is because they have fun and they don’t make music just because they think it would sell but because they have so much fun with it and this sense of fun shows in their music and in their performance and that is what makes this band so great!
Sorry I would have to be all praises for this band but please allow me to indulge.. (I love this band so much that I have a real-life crush on Chito Miranda and that for some time, I hated Kaye Abad for getting into a relationship with him. I thought he was too cool for her! Hehe…I also almost had a fight with someone on Facebook for bashing Chito about the supposed viral video..)
Anyway, before I get anymore sidetracked than I already am.. Here is the Wikipedia article on Parokya ni Edgar for those who are not familiar with them and some of their recent songs.. (I picked the love songs to feature here as it was the easiest choice as opposed to really going through all their songs and literally racking my brain for the very best ones as that would take forever for me..)
Parokya ni Edgar[1] (English translation: Edgar’s Parish) is a multi-award winning Filipino bandformed in 1993. The band is famous and most lauded for its original rock novelty songs and often satirical covers of popular songs both foreign and local. The band has since transcended musical genres, varying styles from one song to another – alternative rock to pop rock, funk to rapcore – while providing comic relief.
Parokya ni Edgar has been referred to by local media as “Pambansang Banda ng Pilipinas” [The National Band of the Philippines], a nickname they share with Eraserheads.
Despite having “Edgar” in the band’s name, none of the members go by it.
Before Parokya ni Edgar
Originally named Comic Relief, the band’s initial members were vocalists Chito Miranda, Jeric Estaco, and Vinci Montaner, and guitarists Mikko Yap and Gab Chee Kee. They were regulars in after-school jam sessions, before performing an opening number for an Eraserheads concert. This served as their break in the music industry and prompted them to add a drummer and bassist – schoolmate Dindin Moreno and Buwi Meneses, respectively. Around the same time they changed the band’s name to Parokya ni Edgar.[2] After high school, Mikko and Jeric withdrew from the band to pursue other interests. Soon after, the remaining band members invited their friend Darius Semaña (lead guitar) to take the role of lead guitar.
The name Parokya Ni Edgar came from a joke by Jeric Estaco during one of their high school classes. Sources state that the class subject was Filipino. The teacher asked Estaco where the father of Jose Rizal‘s fictional hero, Crisostomo Ibarra (in the novel Noli Me Tangere), was educated. It was said that Jeric answered with the daft remark “sa Parokya ni Edgar”. However, the exact origin is still unknown.
In the 90’s, PNE became regular performers in Club Dredd, a popular club in Manila at the time. The band slowly gained popularity during the height of the Filipino rock explosion, with the local rock community welcoming the influence of foreign grunge acts such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
Eventually, the late managing director of Universal Records, Bella Dy Tan, signed them as contract artists after witnessing one of their Club Dredd performances.
Soon, their initial recordings Buloy, Trip and Lutong Bahay gained radio airplay. Their first album, Khangkhungkherrnitz(1996) became a triple platinum hit in the Philippines, having sold 120,000 units. The next albums were equal successes – Buruguduystunstugudunstuy (1997) was awarded triple platinum, Jingle Balls Silent Night Holy Cow (1998) with gold, and Gulong Itlog Gulong (1999) with triple platinum.[3]
After a 5 year break, they released their junior studio album “Edgar Edgar Musikahan” in 2002. This included the single “Halaga”, one of the most popular songs in their career. “Halaga” was such a hit in the country that it further boosted PNE’s career, cementing their name into OPM history.
Shortly after, in 2003 they released the studio album “Bigotilyo”, with the single “Mr. Suave”. The single was just as popular as it’s predecessors and stayed on the music charts for more than a year. The catchy melody and tune were so widely known that even commercials and voting campaigns used it.
2004 was the year of release of “Inuman Session Vol. 1”, PNE’s first compilation DVD album celebrating their 11th year anniversary. The DVD showcases the band’s prerecorded live studio performance of their hit songs to a selected audience. The DVD album met success in sales nationwide.
They released their 8th studio album, Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers in 2010 with the single “Paki-usap Lang (Lasingin Nyo Ako)”. The album was met with moderate success in both charts and sales.
In 2011, PNE joined the roster of Tanduay‘s First Five and RockFest replacing long running Tanduay endorser 6cyclemind.
The following year, PNE released their 2nd compilation DVD album Inuman Sessions Vol. 2 – a follow up to their Inuman Sessions Vol. 1. Later that same year, Montaner officially left the band on good terms with both the members and staff.
2013 marked PNE’s 20th anniversary in the OPM industry. The band launched their 13th album Bente as commemoration, and as this was a milestone, Vinci Montaner temporarily reunited with the band for the album’s cover art and during the album signings.
In 2014, Parokya was awarded MYX Magna Award Winner 2014 in the MYX Music Awards commemorating their 20th anniversary and alternative rock music excellence in the OPM industry. This is considered one of PNE’s greatest achievements as they are 2nd to receive the award after Eraserheads in 2009.
And now for our feature presentation:
Your Song
Pangarap lang kita
Diwata
Hope you enjoyed todays OPM Thursdays session and do come back for more! 🙂
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Allow me to indulge and add another cool song and video from Parokya ni Edgar just to end this post nicely and as a prelude to the coming weekend (hopefully a payday weekend)… yeeha!!
Inuman Na
Nmed 09/11/14 @ 10:54am
musiCOOLogy 101 